The Envoy
by Bryon Nightshade
Summary: The arrival of a stranger splits Sonic and Sally just when they need to work together most. But the stranger has an agenda of her own.
1. Default Chapter

The Envoy 

            A silhouette passed from shadow to shadow in the murk of Robotropolis smog. But the silhouette's stealth wasn't perfect; the clank of footsteps was audible even over the city's background noise. Besides, a shadow with that many spikes belonged to a fairly unique animal.

            Uncle Chuck magnified his view of the building and felt sudden dismay. Swatbots were guarding enough of the entrance points that he couldn't approach effectively. He saw one possible entrance, but it was risky.

            Uncle Chuck tried to think it through, he really did. In the end, though, he decided to go for it.

            Before he could get close, a Swatbot turned a searchlight in his direction. "Freeze, intruder," it called. Uncle Chuck was already on his way out. The only clear view the Swatbot got was of some fleeing spines—something that was hardly uncommon in Robotropolis.

            By the time Uncle Chuck got back to his supposed job, he was already composing his message to Sally about how he'd botched his snooping. He stopped midway, smiled to himself. "Ah, no reason to blame myself. I'm just not Sonic. It's not like I'm getting old," he thought wryly, "but I'm not my nephew. And security isn't exactly loosening."

            He paused on that thought. "Odd about that. Even Robotnik can't rebuild all the Swatbots he loses when we keep shutting down his factories. I've gotta ask Sally about that—it doesn't add up."

            Sally, Rotor, Sonic, and Tails sat in Knothole's main hall. Sonic and Tails helped themselves to chilidogs while Rotor and Sally puzzled over Nicole's holograms.

            "Well, Sally, it's true that power plants in the middle of Robotropolis power more vital buildings than plants on the edge," Rotor said, "but there's also more overlap. The grid in the center is more flexible, with plants able to take over each other's duties. We'd slow some stuff by taking down one of those generators, but everything would still be going. But power plants on the edge are entirely responsible for their own areas. If a sector loses its plant, there's total blackout. It's a big deal to reroute power."

            "That's a good point," said Sally, nodding. "Okay, it's the edge, then. That'll also let us get out quicker. But which area to hit?"

            "Okay, Tails," said Sonic, paying more attention to the chili dogs than he was to Sally, "race ya!"

            "A race? With all these chili dogs here? Nuh-uh, I wanna eat!"

            "That's what I meant, big guy! We race to see who can scarf more!"

            "Cool!"

            "On your marks…" Sonic and Tails eyed each other, not breaking eye contact, and let their hands stray to the edge of the platter. "Get set…" the tension built between the two as they poised to attack the platter. "EAT!"

            Chili dogs vanished with flabbergasting speed. In seconds, all that remained of the pile of dogs were a few specks of chili.

            "I win," said Sonic. He held out two dogs, then shoved them down his throat. Then he and Tails gave a one-two belch, blowing chili smell into the air. "Nice try, Tails."

            "I woulda beat you if you wouldn't hold them in your hands before you eat 'em," Tails protested.

            "Nah. You just don't have as big an appetite as me. Being a hedgehog and a Freedom Fighter is hard work."

            "I'm a Freedom Fighter too. That's why I've gotta eat so much."

            "Still, that was a pretty good buncha dogs, right Tails?"

            "Uh-huh!"

            "How can you even taste them?" asked Sally, wiping off a bit of chili that had hit her table.

            "I can taste 'em, Sal. No prob!"

            "Come over here, Tails," said Sally, as if to get the kit away from Sonic's influence. "Now I want you to look here, Tails. This is the building we want to approach. We don't know all of its security, since Uncle Chuck couldn't quite get to it, but we tried our best." She showed him the hologram. "What path do we take to get in?"

            Tails studied the diagram. "Umm… Sonic could get in this way," Tails said, using his fingers to draw a crazy path, weaving in and out of the sentries' range.

            Sally smiled benignly. "Let's not plan for Sonic, okay Tails?" Besides, she thought to herself, even Sonic couldn't follow that plan.

            Tails brought his finger to his mouth, as if to chew his nail, then said, "Can I see the ventilation, Aunt Sally?"

            "Nicole, ventilation system view, please."

            "Accessing…" The projection shimmered anew, and the vent view appeared. 

            Tails studied this diagram, too. "It's easy," he said. "Come in through this alley, wait until the hover unit passes, go here behind it, then get into this vent and you're in."

            Sally beamed with pride. "Very good, Tails, but not quite the best. If we go this way," she drew with her finger, "we can get in this way."

            "But that vent's higher up."

            "Can't be more than a meter," said Sonic, taking a sudden interest in the planning. "No problem for us, right Sal?"

            "Right. And this way, we can stay farther away from these sentries here. Besides, we can get to more places from this vent than the other one. But that was good, Tails, you're getting better at this."

            "Good job, big guy. Like I told you, Sal, he can do anything."

            "Not 'anything', Sonic. He's still learning."

            "Didn't we used to make it up as we went?"

            "Rotor," said Sally, hastily changing the subject. "What's the best way to shut this plant down?"

            Sonic and Tails exchanged winks.

            A figure moved sleepily through the forest, stumbling every now and again. Its head drooped, its back stooped. It shook its head, as if to clear it, and tried to keep moving.

            The figure heard something approaching. The instant after that, a blur blew past it. The figure fell to the ground in the vacuum of the blur's passage.

            Now considerably more awake, the figure got to its feet. It didn't know if the blur had been leaving home or returning, so it guessed. At a slow trot, the figure moved down the direction the blur had come.

            The sound of sirens made Sally jump. She angrily pulled out her communicator. "Sonic, you weren't supposed to…"

            "It wasn't my idea, Sal!"

            Perfect, she thought. "Alright then, follow the plan, you'll just have to run around longer. Rotor!"

            Now Rotor's voice carried over the communicator. "Yeah, Sally?"

            "Hurry up, Robotnik found Sonic."

            "We're already done here."

            Sally paused for a second. "Rotor, you are amazing!"

            She could almost hear him blush. "I just do my job, Sally."

            "Now get out of here and be careful."

            "Gotcha."

            "Nicole, you might know that we're running out of time."

            As she said this, the door opened. "Thank you, Nicole." Sally walked in and was hit by a blaze of heat so intense she had to quickly vacate the room. Her chest heaved as she tried to cool down. "Nicole, we're going to have to make this quick." The heat was fast escaping into the room Sally was in.

             Nicole helpfully said, "The place we identified is only the best. Any spot in the piping will accomplish our goal."

            "Okay then, let's try this again." Sally turned into the room. She only got a second to look, since the heat forced her to close her eyes. "Nicole!"

            Nicole's laser shot out, soon powering up to full strength, drilling a neat hole in the pipe. "Done, Sally."

            Sally jumped out of the heat and tried to find her way out of the area. "Close the door, Nicole," she rasped. Her lungs burned from breathing the heated air.

            As the door closed behind her, Sally continued making her way out of the building. She raced down some stairs. She thought to herself, "At the bottom of the stairs, which way do I go?" She was so busy thinking about her path that she didn't see the Swatbots until she was almost on top of them. Fortunately, her reaction time was better than theirs. Sally transferred all her momentum into a flying kick to a Swatbot's chest.

            She connected, driving the bot backwards. Since they were on stairs, however, the Swatbot took some time before it landed. Sally's motion, too, continued. She fell head over heels through the air until she came to a turn in the stairs. Her sense of gravity had vanished as the world swirled; now it returned full force as she made an undignified landing on her tail.

            "Oww!" she moaned, then scrambled out of the way as the remaining Swatbot leaned over the railing. Blaster shots pelted the stairs around Sally, but she came to another turn and was out of the bot's line of sight.

            Sally continued to rub her bum from the soreness even as she made her escape.

            Rotor was already waiting for her when she arrived in the junk heaps. "Come on," he said, running to Dulcy. "We've gotta hurry."

            "Climb on, Sally," said Dulcy.

            Sally hesitated for a second, her sore rear reminding her of its presence. Then she heard the sirens, made up her mind, and hopped into the saddle—wishing instantly that she'd chosen a more gentle method of getting onto the dragon's back.

            Even as Dulcy lifted off, Sonic arrived at the rendezvous point. He gave them a big thumbs-up, then headed for home. Dulcy followed.

            Sonic was humming to himself as he tore down the path to Knothole. He knew this path so well, he could do it in his sleep! He knew it like the back of his paw, like—what th—

            Some lump was in the middle of the path!

            Sonic was the not-so-happy recipient of a free flying lesson. Sonic rolled, so his landing didn't hurt him that much, but it scraped him up and made him mighty aggravated at whoever had been stupid enough to drop a log in the middle of the path. He walked back to the log to get it out of his way—no sense tripping over it twice—but noticed that, for a log, it was very oddly shaped.

            It stirred, and Sonic knew that this was no log—some animal was sprawled out on the path.

            Sonic walked to it, nudged a little to try and wake it. It didn't work. Sonic was stumped—he wanted to help somehow, but he wasn't sure what to do. Finally he decided to bring the animal back to Knothole. He reached around its body, trying to turn it over, then grimaced and quickly shifted his grip. Well, he knew for a fact that it was female.

            Whoever she was, she was heavy. Sonic could barely lift her, but it was easy enough once he started running. There wasn't enough light to tell even what species the animal was, but Sonic felt strange—who was this person, anyway?

            Sally resisted the urge to rub her backside from the pain Dulcy's landing had caused her. Bouncing around in the saddle with a bruised butt had not been fun.

            Instead, she headed for the main hall. Rotor followed on her heels. But as they approached, they saw that a crowd had assembled. "What's all this about?" she asked Rotor.

            "I can't guess," he said.

            As they got closer, they caught a glimpse of Bunnie at the door, saying to everybody, "Now y'all go back to bed. There ain't nothin' to see here, and if there is, we'll tell you t'morrow. Now scat!" The crowd showed no intention of dispersing, so Bunnie got louder. "Ah told y'all to go to bed! No one's comin' in here to see anything tonight, so ya might as well catch some shut-eye 'fore tomorrow. No one's comin' in here—oops, 'cept Sally. But no one ELSE is comin'!"

            "That's right," said Sally, ascending the stairs to be next to Bunnie. "I'm sure everything will be worked out by tomorrow. Now please, back to bed everyone."

            The crowd finally began to eke away. Sally turned to Bunnie. "Okay, what is actually in here?"

            "Some stranger that Sonic found on his way home. Ah don't think she's from around these parts."

            Sally, Bunnie, and Rotor went inside, where Sonic had put the stranger on a table. As they came in, an acrid smell hit their noses. "What is that?" Sally said, covering her nose.

            Sonic wiggled his nose to show that he smelled it, too. "Antoine. He says it'll wake her up—'dead ze-waken' is what he said."

            "I believe it," Sally replied. "Now let's have a look at this stranger you found." The stranger wore a cloak of sorts over a dark, full-body sweatsuit—obviously, her dress was designed for concealment. Sally noticed backpack straps, but it wasn't like she could find what was in the backpack—and she wasn't sure she wanted to. Her facial features didn't help identify her species (which, Sally reflected, might not have been so relevant in any event); strictly speaking, they were common to any number of rodents. However, on this individual, they were smooth and appealing. She looked several years older than Sally or any of her friends.

            "Do we know anything about her?"

            "Nada," said Sonic. "She was already out when I found her—and I found her, well, sort of by accident."

            "By accident?"

            Sonic hesitated. "Well… how was I supposed to see her, anyway? She was in the middle of the path!"

            "Sonic, you tripped on her, didn't you?" Sonic didn't answer, he only folded his arms in front of him and sat down in a huff. "It's okay, Sonic. I wasn't much more impressive tonight either."

            "Whaddya mean, Sal?"

            "I took down a Swatbot and landed on my tail."  
            Sonic's eyes widened, then he exploded into laughter. "What is so funny?" said Sally, irritated. But Sonic just kept on laughing. "Hey, I didn't laugh at your embarrassment, Sonic!"

            "Yeah, but… but yours is more… funny!" he managed.

            About that time, Antoine came in carrying a pot. A hazy steam spewed out of it like some foul concoction waiting for someone stupid enough to consume it. "Aah… eet eez here, my preencess!"

            The smell was stronger now; Sally and the others were once more forced to cover their noses. "What is it, Antoine?"

            "Zat is ze secrecy of moi, preencess.  Howevair, zis guest shall 'ave some right now!" He set down the pot and drew out a big ladle of his brew. Even the small amount in the ladle gave off enough steam to obscure the liquid. Antoine carefully ladled a few drops onto the stranger's lips—and a drop or two down her throat.

            The stranger shot upright, hacking and coughing. Everyone jumped in surprise. Sally was the first to try and recover. "Antoine, you can put that away now," she said. Antoine set it on a nearby table. Sally sized up the stranger, who was still recovering from her nasty shock. Sally waited for her to calm, then spoke. "Hello. My name is Sally. What's yours?"

            "What?" asked the stranger. Sally repeated herself, and this time the stranger understood. She reached out to join Sally's extended paw. "Sophia."

            Sally nodded. Might as well make introductions complete, she thought. "This is Sonic," she said. Sonic waved his finger and looked proud. Sally rolled her eyes. "This is Rotor, that's Bunnie, and that's Antoine."

            Antoine raised the ladle to his lips. "I no am seeing why zis is so repugnable to you. To me, eet eez magnifique!"

            To everyone's surprise, Sophia asked him, "Can I have some more?"

            He stood in shock for a moment, then rushed forward with the pot. "Ah, oui, oui! Zut alors, at last someone who reely enjoins good food!"

            The Freedom Fighters were in too much shock to adequately respond. Sophia looked around at their stunned faces. "Well," she said, "when you've been living off of little more than wild mushrooms, you get so you can eat anything."

            "I'd stick with the mushrooms," Sonic said.

            Sally walked Sophia around Knothole, showing her proudly what the Freedom Fighters had built. She didn't see any reason to show everything, of course; after all, the windmill generators were awfully far away and awfully dull, right?

            One thing that bothered Sally, however, was how well everyone was treating Sophia. Silly of course, she chided herself, but it was discomfiting when animals walking by would just smile for no reason, offer help with things, just because she was a new female to Knothole. Well, Sally thought, it's better than the alternative, which is having nobody like her.

            "This is the guest hut. If you're staying, you're welcome to it."

            "Thank you, Sally," Sophia said. She shook her head with a smile. "I can't remember how long it's been since I slept in a bed above ground. Either I slept on the ground, or slept in a bed underground. This is pretty new."

            "Well, hopefully, you'll have plenty of time to enjoy it. I want to hear about where you came from, too."

            "I'm sure you would, but right now, I've been traveling for days. I need a rest."

            Sally nodded. "Alright. See you tomorrow!"  


            Time ticked past ever so slowly for Sophia. By the time the last lights of Knothole were out, she was drooping off herself. Even with her mind so muddled, she could still think enough to dig into her backpack.

            Sophia swallowed and her head began to clear. She'd headed west to come towards Knothole, she remembered, so she had to go east.

            She slipped on her garments to help her avoid watchful eyes and slipped out of her hut.

To be continued…


	2. The Envoy, chapter two

            Rotor couldn't see the device from the right angle. He turned his work lamp a little to get the light in the right place.

            Motion from outside drew his attention. He looked up and out his window, but saw only a few rustling bushes. Must've been me, he thought, and returned his gaze to his work.

            "What is it, Snively?"

            "Sir, we've lost a Stealth Orb."

            "Snively, how is that in any way significant? When we lose ten or more Swatbots every time the Freedom Fighters come to Robotropolis, how does the loss of a single Stealth Orb matter?"

            "Well, sir, it was the way in which the Orb was destroyed. Swatbots have arrived at the crash site and identified the weapon. The damage looks like it came from a small welding torch."

            "Welding torch? Aren't torches of that kind the weapons those idiots on the Southern Continent have been using?"

            "Yes, sir."

            "Hmm… interesting." Robotnik sat back in his chair. "Very interesting indeed. Snively, I want reserve Stealth Orbs deployed to the area that intruder was in. If it returns tonight, I want it identified. Not necessarily captured, though that would be nice, but I definitely want to know who and what it is."

            "Yes, sir."

            "And bring the damaged orb up to my lab. Is its recorder undamaged?"

            "No, sir. Although the main damage was to the front of the orb, there is a much more precise hit to the recorder area."

            "Of course. Very professional. I want to see the orb anyway. And keep me informed of anything else that happens."

            "Yes, sir."

            A few rays of daylight penetrated the forest cover over Knothole and played across Sally's face, warming her just enough to wake her up. She smiled—today would be a glorious day!

            With a stretch Sally sat up. Sonic's running sounds reached her ears, and she laughed to herself. Every morning, Sonic would wake up early to run a few laps around Knothole—then, more often than not, he'd go right back to bed. It made no sense to Sally.

            Sure enough, from across the path through Knothole, she heard Sonic's door shutting—and a few seconds later, the sound of Sonic's snoring like dragging a bed across a wooden floor.

            Sally reached for Nicole. "Nicole, what's on today's agenda?"

            She dressed as Nicole told her. "There is a meeting with Sir Charles to discuss the impact of last night's raid. Also, the annual trade meeting with the villagers of Sumberland South."

            Sally cocked her head, unsure. "What do we trade with them?"

            "In exchange for food, we give them various mechanical devices and oil."

            Sally nodded. "I remember now. Anything else?"

            "You want to question Sophia about what she's doing here."

            "Right, I can deal with that later. Thank you, Nicole." She attached the computer to her boot as she stood. She'd talk to Rotor about the trade meeting—but first, she was ready for breakfast.

            Rotor wiped his paws with a grease rag, smiling in satisfaction. "That should do it," he said to himself. He looked up as motion caught his eye. Strangely enough, he saw Sophia emerging from the forest.

            Rotor puzzled to himself, Now didn't I see someone leaving last night? He watched Sophia reenter her hut through the rear window. He thought to himself, Maybe that was her I saw last night, leaving Knothole. Well, thought Rotor, I often get all-nighters with no trouble. Maybe it's normal to her.

            Yeah, he thought. Maybe she's still adjusting to the time change—she's been on a long trip, after all. He was just about to return to his clean-up and forget about it entirely when he saw Sophia emerge from the door. She gave the yawn-and-stretch of one who's just woken up, then headed to the main hall for breakfast.

            The incident nagged at Rotor as he put away his tools. It had seemed as if Sophia was stretching for effect, as if it was an act. Which it probably was, thought Rotor, since it looked like she'd been awake all night. But what could he do, really? What did it matter? He shrugged. He felt that asking her would be like prying, and he didn't think that anything could come out of telling Sally, so he filed the incident away for future reference.

            Sally saw Sophia stretch, then head for the Great Hall. Sally smiled. Good, Sophia had slept well. Sally heard Sonic a split second before he brushed past her. Sophia was opening the door to the hall as Sonic approached. No! thought Sally. It's too late to warn her—

            Sonic blew past Sophia, nearly sucking her into the hall with his vacuum. Sally winced, but Sophia picked herself up and calmly walked into the hall, through a door which a gloved hand held.

            A gloved hand?

            Sally's jaw dropped. Had Sonic just held the door for someone?

            Sally had never seen it happen, and she'd known Sonic for close to twelve years. But, apparently, he'd just acted unexpectedly.

            Sally shook her head in wonder as she followed them into the hall. Sure enough, there was Sonic, chatting amiably with Sophia. Sonic, of course, was saying more; Sally quickly guessed the topic of conversation, and confirmed her suspicions when she picked out the phrase "fastest thing alive".

            With a quick roll of her eyes, Sally tried to tune out the conversation. Soon, the only sounds she heard were the occasional punctuation of Sophia's strangely irritating laughter.

            After getting herself breakfast, Sally sat down, picking at her food. She grabbed at Nicole. "Nicole, has Sonic ever held the door for me?"

            "Not to my knowledge, Sally."

            "Right. I didn't think so."

            "Looks like someone needs to do some talkin'," said Bunnie as she approached and sat down beside Sally.

            "About what?" Sally asked, shutting Nicole abruptly.

            "Whatever you feel like."

            Sally sighed. "I'm worried about the meeting with Sumberland South. I really don't think it's fair to put all our responsibility for trading with them on Rotor. All those devices he's been working on for the past two weeks have been for this meeting, and I haven't done anything to help."

            "Don't feel bad about that, Sally-girl. Rotor loves this kinda thing. Ah mean, if it weren't this, it would be somethin' else that's bouncin' around in his head like so many crickets. Don't worry about it."

            "I won't," said Sally. "But I've been worried about Sumberland South, too. I've been having a hard time dealing with their leader."

            "Like Ah said, Ah wouldn't worry. Robotnik's just makin' him nervous—just like you."

            Sally's jaw dropped, then formed into a smile. "Thanks, Bunnie."

            "Any time, sugah."

            "Bunnie, can you do me a favor?"

            "Anything."

            "Take Dulcy up to Robotropolis and meet with Uncle Chuck. We want to figure out just what impact we've had."

            "Alright, sugah, but Ah'm not quite sure myself. Ah mean, we drilled a hole, but gophers do that an' it doesn't shut the power off."

            "Don't worry. Uncle Chuck knows. I'd go myself, but the trade meeting is soon, and Uncle Chuck wants to meet around the same time Sumberland South is arriving."

            "Don't you worry your lil ol' head, Sally-girl, I'll handle it."

            "Thanks a lot."

            Bunnie tried to help Dulcy land. "Okay, now ease up… a lil' more… no, wait—aah!"

            A few spins, whirls, and trash heaps later, Dulcy came to a stop.

            The dragon shook her head. "Well, that wasn't so bad."

            "Speak for yourself, sugar-dragon." Bunnie eased herself out of the saddle and on to the ground, using a hand to keep her head steady. "Be right back," she called to Dulcy.

            With a few more steps, she came to the entrance of Uncle Chuck's spy center. Obligingly, the camoflauged door opened.

            "You know," said Uncle Chuck from below, "with Dulcy's landings, I sometimes wonder why Swatbots haven't found us yet."

            "Ah think Ah know whatcha mean. So, what did we do last night? Ah mean, sure we drilled a hole, but so what?"

            "Yes, you drilled a hole, but location's important." Uncle Chuck pulled up an image on the over-sized monitor in the wall. "You drilled it here," he said, "which is between where the water is boiled into steam and where it turns the turbine to generate electricity."

            "Ah'm sorry, but why does that matter?"

            "It means that some of the steam can escape! Once it's out, the power plant can produce far less electricity. Eventually, it'll stop altogether—there won't be enough steam to turn the turbine. Once Robotnik realizes the problem, he'll have to shut down the whole plant just to find the hole—which means putting out the fire, finding the hole, replacing or patching that section, adding water to replace the lost water, then restarting the fire. Overall, just a big deal. Plus, it'll put some strain on the rest of his grid—which is when you guys hit your next target."

            Bunnie nodded. "When'll that be?"

            "Well," said Uncle Chuck, "according to my calculations, the plant will begin to "brown out" in a few hours, with a complete blackout inside of three days. The funny thing is, if you take out another plant near this one, you make it much harder for Robotnik to repair either of them! You'd better get some sleep, because Sally will want to take advantage of this—and she should."

            "Alright, I'll tell her. Thanks for everything!"

            "No problem, Bunnie. Now say 'hi' to Sonic for me!"

            Sally winced as she turned the wrench just a little more. She was helping Rotor with a few last-moment devices to trade with Sumberland South. Just how much Sumberland might want was a mystery—it mostly depended upon how much had broken down. Unfortunately, there was no way to know that. Sumberland was so far away that it was a long trip for them to come to Knothole, so they did so only once a year, excepting the occasional food drop. Robotnik made transmissions far too risky, of course.

            Sally sighed, laid her arms on the table and buried her head in them. "Nicole, what time is it?"

            She'd placed the computer on the table. "Five minutes until noon."

            She shook her head. Well, what they had was what they'd use. "Did you hear that, Rotor?"

            "Sure did. I'll finish up, then clean the place up a little so they can see."

            "Do you have all the types of components they might want?"

            "Nah. I'll have to open the storage shed."

            Sally groaned. "Well, might as well be done with it and open it now. We don't want to crush someone from Sumberland."

            "Okay. Soon as I'm done."

            "Just what kind of things do we give them?"

            "Well, since we've got such a wide selection thanks to Robotropolis, all sorts of things. I make a lot of them. Sometimes, components for their farming. Sometimes stuff to use against Robotnik. This little thing, for example," he said, picking up a roughly spherical device. "I call it a flashbang. It makes a sudden burst of light that can blind Swatbots' eyes."

            "How come we never see stuff like that?"

            Rotor was abashed. "Well, I have so many…"

            "Forget I said it, Rotor, I'm sorry. I do want to try it out, but it's all right. We just don't appreciate how much you do around here. I know you're doing your best—and it's more than I could do in your place." After making sure Rotor had enjoyed the complement, Sally turned. "Nicole, where is Antoine?"

            "My sensors do not have him in range. However, based upon previous data, there is a 68% chance he is in the kitchen of the main hall."

            "Explain."

            "At last check, he was preparing some sort of elaborate food. There's a 50% chance the recipe calls for him to still be cooking at this point. The remaining probability is that it is a shorter dish which was somehow ruined, prompting him to stay there and continue cooking."

            "I need a way to keep him there. I hate to say this, but Antoine needs to stay in that kitchen for a few more hours. I remember the last time he cooked something for some guests of ours."

            Rotor looked up. "Hey, I think I remember that. Wasn't that the guy whose mouth…"

            "Yes, Rotor," Sally interrupted. "I know what I need to do—I need to ruin whatever he's making so he'll have to do it again. But I can't be that mean to Antoine."

            "Get Sonic to do it."

            "Rotor!"

            "Well, it makes the most sense."

            "No." Sally suppressed the idea. "We're just going to have to hope. Now finish up, they'll be arriving soon."

            "Right."

            Sally led the representatives for Sumberland South towards Rotor's hut. Even as they walked, there was the sound of a huge boom. The Sumberlanders turned to Sally, but she did her best to calm them down. "Don't worry. I know exactly what that was. It was just the tool shed. Our technician will be with you as soon as he can get out. So, tell me about Sumberland. Has it been a good year?"

            "Yes, by and large," said their leader. He kept glancing nervously in the direction of the boom, but finally shrugged it off. "We've only had a few breakdowns—your technician is very good."

            "Almost too good," Sally said grudgingly. "He's putting us out of business!"

            "Don't worry," said the rep. "We'll give you the same amount of food—we're all friends here after all, and we've got the common goal of defeating Robotnik. We've got no interest in gouging you."

            Sally gave a sigh of relief. "You just made me happy, gentlemen. That was a big worry for…" Sally trailed off. She saw, in the distance, Sonic and Sophia running and laughing. It was unclear who was chasing whom, but whichever way it was it rankled on Sally. "Sonic!" she called. "Oh, I'm sorry," she apologized to the Sumberlanders. "I'll be with you in a moment." She walked a few steps to try and get out of their hearing.

            Sonic skidded to a stop in front of Sally. "Yo, Sal, what's up?"

            "Sonic, you seem to be having a good time."

            Sonic gave her a funny look, wondering about her harsh tone. "Yeah, so what? Sophie's fun. That a crime?"

            "Do you trust her?"

            "Does that matter?"

            "We don't even really know her. We don't know where she came or why she's here. Don't you think you should hold off until we know more about her?"

            Sonic looked like he was going to respond, then stopped, laughing. "Ya know, Sal, you almost had me goin' until you told me to hold off. I get it now."

            "Get what?" Sally was irritated now. "What's so funny?"

            "You're jealous!"

            The words hit Sally like a cold, wet fish to the face. "Am not," she said, weakly, reflexively.

            "Yeah ya are. You don't want Sophie and me to have a good time. Sorry, Sal, but that's not your job. See ya—and have fun with your boring official stuff!"

            Sally was now adding anger to her reflex—that "jealous" shot was low! "That 'boring official stuff' gets you your next meal, Sonic Hedgehog!"

            "True… but if you screw up, I can always eat wild mushrooms. Gotta juice!"

            He left Sally in the dust. She stood stock-still for several seconds, with the only movements being the quivering of her fists. After about ten seconds, she had calmed herself enough to walk to the Sumberlanders. "The hut is in that direction," she said, pointing with a clenched fist. "I'll be there in a few moments, but I've got to cool down first." She weakly fanned herself with her fist.

            "That's okay," said the lead villager, as if he understood. Just what I need, thought Sally, her fury rising. Sympathy.

            She left them, returned to her hut, and threw things around her hut for a few moments.

            Sonic paused a moment, glancing over at the hovercraft the Sumberlanders had brought. He saw most of Knothole unloading crates of food and bringing them towards a hole in the ground. That hole led to Knothole's cellars.

            He felt an urge to go and help them, but at that moment Sophia said. "What is it?"

            He answered, "Shouldn't we go help?"

            Sophia shook her head. "They've got more than enough animals working on that already."

            Sonic saw Sally and nodded. "Guess you're right."

            "Let's see what you make of this," said the Sumberland representative. "Robotnik had been trying to expand his operations in the south. But recently, he's backed off. We've noticed he has less Swatbots in our areas."

            "That's strange," said Sally. "We've noticed no decline… wait, that's it!"

            "What?"

            "No matter how many Swatbots we destroy, Robotnik has always had around the same amount in Robotropolis! We've been getting discouraged. But this means he's drawing his Swatbots away from the rest of the planet to maintain his forces here!" Her eyes went starry. "That means that we're weakening Robotnik everywhere, making it easier for other groups to overthrow Robotnik in their areas! If they do, he may never recover!"

            "Now hold on," said the representative. "I think you're getting a little too ambitious. Robotnik still has more than enough forces to wipe us out if we're careless."

            "Oh, I know, but in the long term, this means we have a chance."

            "In the long term, we're all dead."

            "True, but this means we're winning. Slowly, but we're winning." She shook her head. "Thanks a lot. We have more hope now—you have no idea how good it feels to actually be winning."

            "Speaking of which, would you be willing to take a volunteer?"

            Sally frowned. "What does that mean?"

            "We want to learn just how you can be so effective. We have an animal who wishes to volunteer his services to you so he can see first-paw."

            'Not a bad idea,' thought Sally. 'Bad timing, but a good idea. Of course,' and she had to struggle to suppress her feelings here, 'I'm not sure how capable I'll be when I keep getting distracted. But I can't very well turn him down.'

            "It would be a pleasure," she said.

            Dinnertime came, and Sally found herself sitting with only Bunnie for company, picking petulantly at her food like a kit. She knew that she owed herself enough food to stay strong, but she couldn't eat.

            "Uh, Sally-girl?"

            "Bunnie, if it's anything about business, don't say it."

            Apparently it was about business, Sally noted, since Bunnie shut up.

            Sally noticed her inner unrest with distaste. I have to keep control of myself, she thought. Anything that clouds my judgement I have to suppress.

            "Sally-girl?"

            "Bunnie, if—"

            "It ain't, Sally-girl. Now you listen. What's with mopin' around all droopy-like? As if you were some kind of moss hangin' limp off a tree!"

            "I don't know. Something about Sophia just bothers me."

            "Don't worry about sugah-hog. He's got more sense than that."

            "I hope s—hold on, who said anything about Sonic?"

            "You didn't need to, Sally-girl."

            Sally let her head drop in embarrassment. "Is it that obvious?"

            "Just to me, an' I won't tell if you don't."

            "Apparently it's obvious to Sonic, too. I got humiliated pretty badly earlier today, and I don't want to go through that again."

            "Are ya askin' for advice?"

            At that moment, though, Sonic, Sophia, and a few others entered the hall for dinner. One of them was the new animal from Sumberland—Boro, they said his name was. The jabber of the group was animated, spirited; Sally could see that everyone was enjoying it. Sonic and Sophia kept looking at each other—not much, but Sally could see it quite clearly.

            Once more, Sally felt a rankling in her gut. This wasn't right! There was something she disliked so badly about that girl, but she couldn't put her paw on it.

            Sally forced herself to move towards the table the group had settled at. She sat down, prompting a call from Sonic, "Hey Sal, missed ya today!"

            Ignoring him, Sally said, "Sophia, you said you'd tell us why you're here."

            Sophia nodded. "I'm from the Southern Continent."

            "Funny. We've never had someone from there show up here before."

            Sophia ignored the hostility that even Sally noticed. "It's hard to get here from there. I had to catch a ride on one of Robotnik's freighters and stay there while the thing lumbered over here. I landed in the southeast and I've been trying to make my way here. I was pretty desperate to find you—I'd run out of food by then, and I'd been travelling for days without seeing anything other than a few stupid birds.

            "Finally, I came to a part of the forest on my map…"

            "A map? I need to see it," Sally said all too quickly.

            "Let her tell the story, Sal," said Sonic, irritated.

            "If it tells the area Knothole might be in," Sally shot back, "it's a security risk I have to know about."

            "That's okay," said Sophia. "You can see it soon. I understand that it's important to you." The way in which she said it only made Sally feel more bitter, and stupid for being so openly suspicious.

            "So I just kept on wandering along. Then Sonic came and found me…"

            "Tripped on her, more like," Sally mumbled, but faced only frowns.

            "…And now I'm here."

            "What's it like there?" asked Sonic.

            "Sonic, you wait. I'd like to know what Sophia is doing here."

            "Come on, Sal, what's your problem?" Sonic's hackles began to rise. "I asked first, anyway."

            "That doesn't matter. Sophia: just what are you doing here?"

            Sonic turned a way in a huff and stalked to the kitchen. Sally fumed at him even when facing the other direction. Sophia broke the awkward silence after a pause, as if she was trying to come up with the correct words. She glanced towards Boro, then spoke. "You see… I came to evaluate how everyone's doing here in the continent. I needed to find out what groups there were, and where. Also, it was very important for us to know if any members of the Royal family were still intact. I guess we were wrong."

            "But what about Sally?" piped in Tails. "She's the princess."

            All eyes turned to Sally. "Well, yes," she said uncomfortably. I'd rather dissociate all that's happening from my title, thank you, she said with her eyes.

            "Really?" said Sophia. "Oh my. I was expecting someone a bit more…" she stopped.

            "More what?" Sally said testily, drumming her fingers.

            "Tall."

            There were chuckles around the table, leaving Sally to burn. Yeah, right! She thought. That's not what you were going to say.

            Unable to take any more, Sally left the room and returned to her hut in a rage. No one noticed her leave except Bunnie.


	3. The Envoy, Chapter Three

            "Sal was outta control tonight!" Sonic griped to Rotor's back as the walrus worked on something. "I mean, being a little cautious is one thing, but she was totally wired!" Rotor extended a paw with a circuit board in it. Sonic held it for Rotor to work on but somehow managed to pace-in-place while keeping his hands still. "And then she told me off so she could follow her paranoia-geek-girl stupid stuff! I mean come on!" Rotor took the circuit board back, and Sonic continued to pace as if uninterrupted.

            "Do you think there's any possibility Sally's right to be suspicious?"

            "I don't know of any. I believe Sophie 100%. Why would she lie?"

            "Beats me. But when Sally's on to something, she's usually right."

            "Usually. As in, not this time!" He sighed. Rotor pushed some tools in Sonic's direction. Sonic absentmindedly took them. "I don't get it, Rote. I thought Sal would be cool about all this, but she's acting mondo strange. For some reason, she's jealous that I like Sophie."

            "Why would she be jealous?"

            "Cause she likes me?"

            "It's you we're talking about," said Rotor, retrieving his tools from Sonic's hands. "I can't tell you what you're thinking."

            "I guess so. She must be jealous, 'cause she's never been like this before. But why's she jealous?"

            "Have you done anything that would make her jealous?"

            "No! Well… yeah. Okay, so we played together."

            "For how long?"

            "Most of the day. But so what?"

            "On a day when you were playing, Sally was working. You know she hates it when that happens."

            "So? Sophie might not be here long. So I don't see why Sally would be jealous about that."

            "Maybe she took for granted that you'd help her. Then when you didn't, she got upset."

            "It was just one lousy day! If Sal gets upset over one stupid day, then I can do without her!"

            Rotor shrugged and turned to his work, shaking his head.

            "Okay, what's that about?"

            "What's what about?"

            "That head thing you're doing."

            "What head thing?"

            "C'mon, Rote, not you too."

            "What'd I do?"

            Sonic gave a guttural noise and ran off, furious.

            Rotor could only look around, helpless. "What'd I do?"

            "I don't want to talk about it, Bunnie."

            "C'mon, Sally-girl, you've never been like this before."

            "That's because Sonic's never been this dense! Can't he tell that this girl is trouble?"

            "What kind of trouble?"

            "I… don't know," Sally admitted.

            "Y'all can find any trouble you want if you look for it."

            "I know, and I know I'm being so…" Sally threw her paws into the air. "I just don't understand. I'm used to being able to control my emotions, but something doesn't feel right."

            "Y'all shouldn't be so hard on yourself. Ah mean, it's okay to be jealous an' all. Don' give me that look, Sally-girl, you're jealous. Ah am too, if you wanna know. All the attention on Sophie an' everything, Ah don't feel right either. But it'll pass. Once they know Sophie, she'll be just another pawprint on the ground."

            Sally still looked depressed. "I feel like I should apologize to her for how I've been acting."

            "No need to go that far."

            "Why not? I've been really rude."

            "She's been okay 'bout it. After you get to know her, maybe."

            She sighed. "I just wish I understood why Sonic was so… appreciative. I… do you think he likes me, Bunnie?"

            "Sally-girl, I know he does. An' you like him."

            "Then why's he acting like this?"

            "Sophie's different. Like I said, just you wait. He'll figure out the better fruit soon enough."

            "I hope so, Bunnie. I hope so."

            Swatbots didn't normally operate singly. Constant Freedom Fighter attacks had inspired Robotnik to order his Swatbots to travel in groups to minimize risk. However, when a hover unit landed to investigate something, the common procedure was to debark one Swatbot and leave the other to watch the unit.

            This time, the Swatbot in the hover unit watched its partner turn a corner to investigate a heat signature. It suddenly lost contact with its partner. Before it could call in for help, a dark figure stormed the unit. One quick welding torch blow later, and the Swatbot would never miss its partner.

            "Freeze image!" Robotnik shouted. "Magnify!" An on-screen view of the intruder slowly cropped out the background as the image expanded.

            "Is there someway to get a look at the intruder's face, Snively?"

            "Negative, sir, it's completely hidden by his clothing."

            Robotnik hmphed, but his eyes remained active, scanning the image for anything that might help identify him. "Focus on his weapon. Magnify on that weapon." Again the image shifted, this time to the attacker's paw. "Snively, match the design against our database of all known weaponry. Specifically, with the Southern Continent."

            Snively did as he was told. "That's it, sir!" he said, turning. "There's almost total correlation between that design and the old personal repair torches used in the Southern Continent!"

            "Yes," said Robotnik, "but what's one of their soldiers doing here? Whoever it is has gone to a lot of trouble. Snively, did the Swatbots report any damage to the hover unit itself?"

            "Negative, sir."

            "Anything unusual about the damage to the Swatbots?"

            "Negative, sir."

            "I don't trust your judgement. Get me an uplink with the Swatbots at the site." Within moments, Robotnik's monitors were connected to the visual sensors of those Swatbots. "Snively," Robotnik growled, "look at the Swatbot's chest."

            "The chest? But sir, the critical damage was done to the head…"

            "You idiot! The scorch marks on the chest form an arrow! Which sector is in that direction? Never mind, I'll do it myself. Reserve Stealth Orbs, prepare to receive redeployment orders!"

            Sophia dragged herself back into Knothole. Can't let this get to me, she thought. It's much too important to let up now.

            Wiping fatigue from her eyes, she paused before beginning her final approach. Quickly as she could, she dashed from the cover of trees and bushes, sprinted to the window of her hut, and leapt in.

            She rolled to a stop. In her fatigue she seriously considered lying there and sleeping. But, as if on cue, there came a knock on her door. She moaned to herself but said to her guest, "I'll see you in a moment!" With as much haste as she could manage, she tried to tidy up her hut and herself, pretending that she'd gotten a full night's sleep. As she slid her backpack off, she remembered to dig into its pocket for something.

            As she regained her composure and felt her fatigue subside, she said, "Come in!"

            When the door opened, Sophia gave an inward moan. It was that damn girl again! Some princess she was! Still, Sophia knew she had to put on her nice-girl routine again. Oh, if she could only have a few moments to tell Sally how she really felt…

            "Hi," said the princess, cheerfully.

            "Hi," answered Sophia, sounding just as cheerful. "Nice morning, isn't it?"

            "Yes," Sally said. Sophia saw that something was on Sally's mind, and cursed to herself. Now what?

            "Listen," said Sally, "I feel really bad about the way I've been treating you. I just wanted to apologize—I've been way too hostile, and I want you to feel welcome."

            Sophia gave a big—inward—sigh of relief. Well, that issue had resolved itself! Maybe a few things about this could turn out right, after all! Still, her guise demanded a slightly different response. "Oh, don't worry about it," she said. "I know you were just being cautious and doing what you thought was right, and I understand." When Sally's face lit up, Sophia knew she'd said exactly the right thing. Damn stupid, gullible girl, Sophia thought to herself. I don't know whether to hold you in pity or contempt.

            Well, I'm feeling nice today in spite of myself. "Here," Sophia said. "You said you wanted to look at my map. I'll get it out for you." And she did so, putting it on the table. She saw Sally look relieved.

            "So you really didn't know where Knothole was."

            "No. We knew the general area, but we had no idea where your village was. I found it only by finding a path and then getting tripped over by Sonic."

            "Well, that's good to know. I feel safer now."

            Sophia nodded obligingly. "Anything else?"

            "No thanks," said Sally. "I apologize again."

            "Don't worry about it. I'll see you later." Sally waved and walked off. Stupid girl, Sophia thought.

            This breakfast, Sally felt a lot better. With the trade meeting out of the way, and her feelings about Sophia soothed, she had far fewer worries, and was back to planning the sort of thing she liked far better: carrying her fight to Robotnik.

            She looked up. Bunnie was right, she thought. Although Sophia still had a few animals around her, today's main attraction was Boro. Boro seemed to have quite a few weapons on his person, including two light blasters and an array of knives. Currently he was entertaining the breakfast crowd with spinning knife tricks.

            Unfamiliar with such things as she was, and finding them not terribly interesting, Sally only gave a half-amused expression before turning her attention to the duty roster. Something caught her eye. Normally there was a set rotation to the guard duties, but many of the shifts were off by one time slot. She tracked them back to their source and was shocked: Sonic's name had been inserted into the rotation. And if the sloppy handwriting was any indication, it was Sonic who'd inserted himself.

            Sonic, volunteer for guard duty? The concept simply boggled Sally. It was totally without precedent. Seeing as Sonic saw guard duty as something only slightly less distasteful than Roboticisation, Sally knew no reason for him to choose an extra shift.

            I'll deal with that in a moment, she thought. "Sophia, Boro," she called, "I want to talk to you tonight. We're going to go on a mission tonight, and I want you two in on the planning."

            "Tonight?" said Sophia skeptically.

            Sally quashed her response; Sophia was alright, remember? "Yes, tonight."

            "Good!" said Boro, cracking his knuckles.

            Before that, Sally thought to herself, I've gotta visit Sonic.

            Sonic dangled his feet in the Power Ring pool. Sally saw that the hedgehog was frowning, as if deep in thought.

            I don't understand it, she thought to herself. So many things recently have never happened before. I've got to know what's going on.

            She entered the clearing around the pool, walking towards Sonic. He looked up when he heard her, but turned away in a huff when he identified her. "Whadya want?"

            "Sonic, what are you doing out here?"

            "So I'm not allowed to go on guard duty any more? For someone always tryin' to get me to do it…"

            "No, I just want an expla…"

            "I don't have to tell you everything!" Sonic exploded.

            There was quiet. Sally was stunned. She heard rustling behind her. She looked back and saw Sophia emerging from the woods. It all came together in Sally's mind. Sonic pulled guard duty to get in an isolated area so he could see Sophia without my knowing it! "I get it," she said angrily. 

            "Get what?" Sonic said.

            "Huh?" said Sophia.

            Sally stormed off, no longer listening. The only thing she heard was, in the background, Sonic shouting "Go away!"

            Fine then, hedgehog, she thought.

            "What was that all about?" asked Sophia.

            "I don't wanna talk to you right now."

            "Is there something going on between you two…"

            "Go away!" Sonic shouted.

            Although she looked like she might cry, Sophia did so. Sonic banged his head on the ground in frustration. "I came out here to get away from them! I never have the time to think. Just what I needed—now they both hate me!"

            Sally sat in the main hall. It wasn't mealtime, but she, Sophia, Bunnie, Rotor, Dulcy, and Boro were gathered to discuss the night's raid. Sonic was not with them. "So," Sally said, "the idea is to shut down a power plant near the last plant we attacked. With such sudden strain on his power grid, we can shut down quite a few of Robotnik's operations and cause him a serious hassle as he tries to recover."

            Rotor raised a paw. "How many of us are going?"

            Sally grimaced. "I'm not sure on that yet. I want to bring most of you, but if we take too many, Robotnik will spot us." As she said that, Sonic approached. He was heard before he was seen, as the noise from his running slightly preceded his arrival inside.

            "Late, as usual, Sonic," said Sally without looking at him.

            "Snotty, as usual, Sal," Sonic answered, also without looking.

            That set the tone. The two of them spoke when necessary, but did it without making eye contact. Sally was having a hard time focusing on the mission, distracted as she was by her conflict with Sonic.

            Much as she wanted to leave him behind, she knew she relied too heavily on his ability to occupy Robotnik's attention. So in the end, Sally went with Dulcy, Boro, Sophia, and Sonic. In other words, she thought grimly to herself, I'm going with Dulcy, one animal that infuriates me, and two I can't rely on. 

            My confidence is soaring.

            Sonic returned to the group. "I don't get it. Way too many Swatbots hangin' around. I'm not sure how we can get past 'em."

            Sophia's innards roiled. Of course they're thick here. Why did we have to strike tonight? Any night but tonight! This was supposed to have ended!

            Damn, damn, damn.

            Gotta think. How can I make up for what this damn girl has made of my plans?

            "Duck!" Sally hissed. Sophia, along with everyone else, jumped inside the building and kept their heads down. Sophia kept as still as possible. She could hear the barely-audible noise of a Stealth Orb camera floating by.

            I don't care about them, she thought, but I can't be caught in their company.

            Sally was the first to stand. She peeked out the windows, then motioned for everyone to join her. "We've still got a chance. Nicole, boot up a street map."

            Sophia paid no attention to Sally. She was too busy running through the possibilities in her mind. What if, what if, what if…

            She was the last one out, as Sally had started moving before Sophia realized it. "Boro," she was saying, "you and hedgehog go that way. We'll go this way."

            Sophia got a little satisfaction out of hearing her say that. Hedgehog, indeed! But then she realized something. Sally could still be of use to her. Yes, who'd turn down such an offer? Sally led the way, and as Sophia followed, she drew a welding torch from her pocket.

            Before she could proceed, she heard the wail of sirens. Now what the hell happened? She thought.

            "No!" shouted Sally, brushing past Sophia as she backtracked. Another damn lost opportunity, thought Sophia.

            They arrived on the scene at the same time as a few more Swatbots. Sonic and Boro were already fighting a group, and the Swatbots' reinforcements collided with Sally and Sophia.

            Instinctively, Sophia lashed out, igniting her torch. She burned into the chest of one Swatbot, slagging its power supply, before slashing at the "throat" of another. She buried the torch in the head of a third and turned to find the rest of the Swatbots in pieces. She was impressed—Sally had destroyed as many with just her body. She mentally upgraded her opinion of Sally's abilities, if not her opinion of her brains.

            Inspiration struck her at that moment. She turned to one of the fallen Swatbots and made some quick marks with her torch.

            The sound of an explosion made her jump up. The remains of a Stealth Orb clunked to the ground. Oh, spraint, if that thing saw me…

            "Let's get out of here!" said Boro, who'd fried the orb with a blaster.

            "Sophia!" shouted Sally.

            Sophia finished her work and followed the others. "We've gotta hurry. Sonic! Take Boro and get out of here! We'll follow on Dulcy."

            "Gotcha. Boro, grab my shoulders. We're gonna juice it loose!"

            Sophia was surprised. For all the tension between Sally and Sonic, when there was a crisis the tension vanished. For a moment Sophia wavered, but she knew her duty.

            "What were you doing?"

            Question from Sally. Problem. Stall for time.

            "When?"

            "When we were fighting. What took you so long?"

            Need an answer. Here's one. Sounds plausible. Use it.

            "On the Southern continent we like to mark our enemies so they know who they're dealing with."

            "That's stupid."

            She didn't buy it much. Damn. Well, there's nothing I can do about that.

            The sirens, Sophia noticed, were constantly getting closer and farther away. So Sonic isn't just evacuating, he's running interference. Clever.

            Sophia's opinion of the Freedom Fighters rose a little more, but she knew it was too late. She had a job to do, and she would do it.

            "Robotnik, the Stealth Orb's memory tapes have been recovered."

            "Excellent, Snively. Bring them up on the monitor."

            The image came up. There she was, some female rodent—with a welding torch in her hand. "Snively?"

            "Cross-checking that image—yes, it's the same one that's been destroying our units."

            "Then we have the image of our mysterious visitor. Send this image to all Swatbots in Robotropolis with a priority one-capture tag."

            "A priority one tag, sir, but that puts her on par with the hedgehog…"

            "Of course it does. I think this individual has much to tell us, and she'll be far easier to catch. Yes. She will prove useful yet. Anything else?"

            "One of the Swatbots has unusual damage markings, sir."

            "Show me." Two arrows pointed towards the west. Robotnik smiled. "Enough of this dance. Snively, deploy most of my reserve to the sector two west of this one, and recharge my reserve Stealth Orbs so they'll be ready tonight as well."

            "Yes, sir."

            Robotnik tapped his fingers together. "Come to me, my friend. Come to me."

            Morning dawned, and it came upon a most unhappy Knothole.

            Sophia wanted to sleep, she really did. But she could not afford to sleep through the night, and if she slept now, she couldn't be sure she'd be able to wake up. So, with no other option, she stayed awake.

            Sonic ran off early in the morning, then returned and spent some time talking to Sophia.

            For the third morning in a row, Sally found herself picking pointlessly at her breakfast. 

            Boro was trying to entertain the breakfast crowd with his knife tricks, but this morning they were more somber. They'd heard how disastrously the last raid had ended, and they saw Sally sitting in the corner. They took their cues and kept fairly quiet.

            I don't need your pity, Sally thought scornfully. All you're doing is reminding me of my failure. Fine, go ahead, you don't know what you're doing. Sally was contemplating drowning herself in her morning coffee when she heard a scream.

            Boro's paw was covered in blood, but he was curled about his foot. Sally hopped the tables between her and Boro and saw the knife buried in his foot. It was easy to see what had happened—Boro had caught the knife wrong and dropped it on his foot.

            "Bunnie," Sally barked, "the first aid kit. Quickly!" She grabbed at rags to stuff the blood flow, thinking to herself, just what we needed this morning.

Bunnie knocked on Rotor's door. "Come in," she heard.

            "Rotor, honey, put that all down. I need to talk to you."

            "Sonic was in here just a moment ago, doing just that."

            "Really? Where'd he go?"

            "To talk to Sophia, I think."

            "Listen, Ah think the four of us need to have a lil' ol' chat and straighten a few things out."

            "I agree. Just the four of us?"

            "Yep. That'll do."

            "I'm all for it."

            "One more thing."

            "Ask away."

            "What did Sonic say 'bout Sally-girl?"

            "How'd you know he said anything?"

            "What else would he talk 'bout? These days, I mean."

            "I'm not sure about that. But anyway, I can't tell you. That's too much like gossip."

            "Ah don't think so, an' Ah'll tell you why. Right now, you an' Ah need to know what they think 'bout each other. That way we can help both get over it."

            "I disagree."

            "Oh, fine, spoilsport, but right now our job is to make sure they're ready for tonight."

            "Understood."

            "Y'all get Sonic. Ah'll get Sally-girl."

            "Meet in Sally's room."

            "Let's do it."

            Sonic and Rotor arrived at Sally's hut. Rotor entered first. Sonic breathed deeply a few times before following. Sally and Bunnie, of course, were already inside.

            "Time out," Sonic said. "Before we do anything else, I wanna clear something up. Do you have any real accusations against Sophie? Evidence? Anything?"

            Sally was as unmoving and cold as a stone, but Rotor's face showed confusion. "Sophia?" he said.

            "Yeah."

            "Well… I didn't want to tell anyone, but… I did see her…"

            "Rote! Sorry, dude, but I'm talkin' to Sal."

            Sally sat passively for a few more moments, then bowed her head and shook it. "Nothing solid. I have nothing."

            "Then lay off, 'kay?"

            "Okay, Sonic. I will." Her head snapped up. "But I have to clear something up, too. At this point, we have a job to do. Whatever's between us… or not between us… it really doesn't matter inside Robotropolis. What does matter is whether or not I can count on you to trust me."

            She raised her paw, extending it to Sonic. "I'm willing to put my trust in you, regardless of our relationship. But I've got to know now: will you trust me? If worst comes to worst, can we count on each other to do what's best?"

            Sonic took the offered paw and shook. "Always, Sal. When it's crunch time, you can count on me."

            Rotor and Bunnie looked at each other. They hadn't done anything, but Sonic and Sally had patched things up anyway. Rotor shrugged, but Bunnie smiled. After all, she thought, that was the point, and it doesn't matter how they got there.

            Sonic and Sally finally released each other's paws, and within moments, they had developed plans to attack Robotropolis.


	4. The Envoy, Chapter Four

            Sophia took another pill as night fell. She hoped it wasn't possible to overdose on them, but she didn't really care—so long as she could accomplish her mission first. She double-checked her equipment. Her welding torch only had a little fuel left—she must have had a slow leak. She could try to replace it, but that could take a long time, and she had to get to Robotropolis. Her mission had to come to fruition tonight.

            She wondered briefly if the Freedom Fighters were planning another attack. She wasn't sure, but in the final analysis, it really didn't impact her so much. With those thoughts in her head, she set out to Robotropolis.

            Sally crouched in the smog, ready to cut the alarm system. It was a dangerous tactic, since the Robotropolis mainframe checked all the alarm systems every few minutes to make sure they were all working, and a dead system was the same as an alarm. But Sally had timed how often the mainframe checked this system, and with luck, they would buy a few minutes.

            But just as she singled out and marked the wires to cut, she heard crashing sounds, like someone had knocked over a pile of garbage. Sally froze, her mind racing. 

            What could that be? She thought. She slowly turned and peered in the direction of the sounds. It was an animal, wandering through Robotropolis.

            Who was it? What was he doing here? But she had no time to think on that, for the animal was moving down the street towards the center of the city. And hovering about two and a half meters behind and above him was a Stealth Orb.

            Sally looked on, amazed, as two more Stealth Orbs appeared, apparently intent upon following the animal.

            Sally had no idea what was going on. Possibilities spun through her head, but she grabbed on the only certainty she had: whoever that animal was, he was headed directly into danger. Something had to be done.

            But what about the mission? Robotnik was surely well into repairing the downed power plant by now. The only way to delay its reactivation would be to shut this plant down now.

            She made her decision.

            She grabbed her communicator, already moving to follow. "Everyone, reset your watches. Begin the operation five minutes later than we'd planned. Bunnie, very carefully move to my position. I need you to take over my job."

            "But I was coverin' Rotor!"

            "I know. But something's come up."

            "Sally?" It was Sonic's voice.

            "Yes, Sonic?"

            "Good luck."

            Sally was surprised, but thankful. "You too, Sonic. And keep your ears open, I may need a quick pick-up."

            "Call me when you're ready, Sal. Bunnie," said Sonic, taking command in Sally's absence, "do what Sal said."

            Sally clicked off her communicator. For one thing, it would distract her, and for another, she knew that Sonic would be able to handle things without her.

            The only place prisoners ever went in Robotropolis was the main headquarters building—and if this animal wasn't a prisoner now, Sally thought, he would be soon. Sally cut through buildings and allies, cross-streets and clearings, getting to the HQ building faster than a less experienced animal could. She had to hurry, because Robotnik rarely left animals without a Swatbot escort.

            Sure enough, Sally saw a hover unit approach the HQ building. She couldn't follow it exactly, but penetrating the building wouldn't be a problem. It was based on the Royal Palace, and she knew all the backdoors.

            "Nicole," she said as she went in, "where would Robotnik take an animal?"

            She had some theories, but she wanted to be sure. Like clockwork, Nicole rattled off the possibilities—they matched Sally's theories. "Most likely: the Roboticiser room. Secondarily, the main chamber or one of the cell blocks."

            With that in mind, Sally moved through the building.

            Sally looked in on the Roboticiser room from a vent above. "No one's here…" she whispered. Even as she said it, as if to spite her, several Swatbots entered, followed by an animal. Sally couldn't see the monitor that had Robotnik, but she could hear his voice.

            "Let me see your face," he commanded.

            The animal obliged, and Sally nearly choked on her tongue. 

            It was Sophia! What was she doing here?! This didn't make sense—to come here voluntarily? What was going on?

            "Greetings, Robotnik. I had preferred to meet you in person."

            "Your preferences make little difference. State your business."

            "I bear a message from the South Continent."

            "And your message is…?"

            Sophia raised her hands, as if to appeal to Robotnik. Sally gagged, wanted to intervene, but somehow she found she couldn't move. She had to see this. "I represent one of the communities there. We've fought with you long enough. We wish to discuss with you the terms of our surrender."

            NO! shrieked Sally in her mind. Robotnik never negotiates in good faith! Sophia, what are you doing?!

            Sally saw the Swatbots around. Robotnik was taking no chances. Sally saw exactly what would happen, but she didn't know how to stop it. Besides, she had to know why this was happening.

            Even if I knew why she's doing this, what could I do to stop this? Sally thought. Six of them at close range. Sophia won't be able to help me. Sonic can take on six at once, but how could I?

            "There are no terms," Robotnik said, snapping Sally back into reality. "If you reveal yourselves, you'll be captured and Roboticised. That is how you can surrender."

            Sophia was visibly shaken. "Then we'd like to discuss peace terms with you!"

            "Peace? My little girl, why would I want peace? If you wish to surrender to me, then I must be winning. In that case, I simply need to continue doing what I'm doing and I'll have you all anyway. No, there will be no peace."

            "But—I have other information you might want!"

            "Information is valuable. We might could come to an agreement. What are you selling?"

            Sophia steeled herself. Sally could see her hesitate, but she plunged on. "I'll give you the location of Knothole."

            Sally's opinion of Sophia crystallized in an instant. 

            Sally was filled with cold fury. She had to take a huge risk of dying to protect an animal who'd just tried to sell her. She knew she had to get Sophia out, and quickly, but she would have no sympathy for her.

            Robotnik's laughter never boomed; more often it slithered out of him like a sinister snake. Now, as ever, the sound of it was enough to send shivers down Sally's spine. "Swatbots, capture and Roboticise her now." In a moment, half a dozen blasters were trained on Sophia. In another moment, she was on the Roboticiser pad, with the diamond-glass tube on its way down. "That was unwise of you, my dear. I probably would have Roboticised you anyway, but since you know the location of Knothole, I have no reason to wait."

            Sophia, thought Sally, digging into her backpack, I do this for Knothole, not for you!

            Shielding her eyes, Sally shouted to Sophia, "Close your eyes!" Then, from out of the duct, she dropped a flashbang.

            Even with her eyes covered, Rotor's toy nearly blinded Sally. Good work, Rotor, she thought. Those Swatbots wouldn't be able to see Robotnik blot out the sun. She jumped out of the duct. She sized up the situation as she landed. None of the Swatbots even so much looked in her direction. Well, she thought, my chances of living just improved. In fact, her chances were quite good. Without their sight, Sally speedily disabled the Swatbots. She could hear Robotnik's curses behind her, but pushed them out of her mind. "Nicole, laser," she said, pointing the computer at the drive mechanism for the Roboticiser tube.

            The light beam lanced through the mechanism, letting Sally push the tube up by paw. Sophia wasn't moving; her expression was like an animal hit hard on the muzzle, stunned.

            "Sophia! Come on!"

            But she refused to move. Knowing she was out of time, Sally grabbed her paw and pulled her along.

            Predictably, as Robotnik recovered, alarms went off throughout Robotropolis. But just as they sounded, a good portion of them went silent. A moment later, Sally felt the low crump of a large-scale detonation and knew that Robotnik's power plant had just gone down.

            She grabbed at her communicator. "Sonic, pick-up, Robotropolis HQ!"

            "On the way, Sal, be there in thirty seconds."

            Right. Thirty seconds to get to the ground floor with Sophia. It'll be tight, but if we're lucky…

            Sally knew that getting out was always more difficult than getting in, but she moved with great speed, knowing that the thickest resistance would be just outside the building—and that would be just too late.

            The biggest room on the ground floor was what had been the lobby of the royal palace. These days it was, around the clock, fully staffed with Swatbots. The Freedom Fighters, realizing that they would have to get in and out at times without being seen, always avoided the lobby. Rather, they used numerous entrances and exits that were less noticeable. Such backdoors had allowed Sally to get in unnoticed, and it was through these doors that she escaped.

            Sally emerged from the building exactly thirty seconds after she'd talked to Sonic and faced a ring of Swatbots pointing blasters at her. But even as they monotoned, "Freeze, Freedom-Fighter," she was smiling. She could see what was coming behind them. The one-two punch of Sonic and Dulcy destroyed a dozen Swatbots and two hover units in the blink of an eye.

            Sonic's surprise at Sophia's presence was obvious. "You're late," Sally joked to Sonic, who managed a grim smile.

            "Let's blow this party," Sonic said.

            Sally nodded. "Dulcy, put Sophia in your pouch!" Even as Dulcy managed this, Sally jumped into Sonic's arms. "You know what to do," she said.

            "You bet."

            Sonic and Sally covered for the rest of the Freedom Fighters. Although they were pursued, it was nothing a Power Ring couldn't handle.

            The Freedom Fighters arrived back in Knothole. All of them went directly to the main hall.

            Dulcy's crash landing was a mild one—so mild that she was still completely conscious. She let Sophia out of her pouch. Bunnie and Rotor escorted Sophia towards the main hall.

            Sonic and Sally were waiting. Bunnie sat Sophia down across the table from them, then stepped back to watch. Sophia's expression was dazed, as if she were unaware of what had happened. Sonic and Sally stared at her, their eyes boring at her.

            "We'll wait for you," Sally said after almost a minute.

            Sophia's eyes snapped into focus, returning a harsh, angry stare at Sonic and Sally. "What the hell do you want?"

            "Answers."

            Sophia laughed haughtily, as if laughter was a bludgeon to use against Sonic and Sally. It was something noone there had seen before, but if Sonic and Sally were unnerved by it, they didn't show it. "Answers? How would you know I'm not lying?"

            Sonic held out a paw and gripped Sophia's. She tried to pull away, but he held fast, squeezing her paw harder until she stopped struggling. Then he held up his other paw, and the Power Ring glowed brighter. "I'm your lie detector now," said Sonic grimly, eyes—now brighter—staring into Sophia's skull. "I won't go into your head, but I'll know if you're not playin' straight." He waited a few moments to let that sink in, then said to Sally, "Anytime."

            "Why did you really come here?"

            "You heard me, damn it," said Sophia, her guises falling. She was scared, shaky, uncertain.

            "Yes, I heard you. But everyone else has to know."

            "To make peace with Robotnik."

            "By what means?"

            "Any means."

            "Including?"

            "Selling Robotnik the location of Knothole in exchange for our freedom."

            The silence after her words was icy. Sonic, stunned, almost lost her paw as she pulled back suddenly, but he never lost contact with her and held her fast.

            "Why?" Sally asked.

            "We're tired of war," Sophia said, slamming her paw to the table but giving up her struggle. "The war on the Southern Continent isn't neat like it is here… No simple raids, not hit-and-fades, oh no… The war is constant. Every day, blood and oil soak into the ground. We have our bases in the mountains. Something in the mountains makes it almost impossible for hover units to operate, so Robotnik just sends out the Swatbots."

            Her eyes flashed from animal to animal in the room. Few could match her eyes. "Wave after wave of Swatbots, every few days. We constantly struggle to survive. Some of us can't do it anymore."

            "So you'd sacrifice those who still have strength?" Sally asked in a hushed tone.

            "It's not even that simple. The base that I belong to… our hydroponics bays have begun to fail. Those bays are our only source of food. Soon, they won't be able to grow enough food to keep us alive. If we had peace, we'd be able to grow food outside the mountain without constantly worrying about it getting ripped up and razed. But we don't have peace, so without those bays, we'll die."

            "I have a question," said Sonic.

            "What?"

            "Did you feel anything for me? Or were you just faking it all?"

            "You? I found you ignorant and simple-minded, hedgehog. For the most part, you served as a way to irritate the princess and throw her off. You had some value, but it really didn't make up for how much you annoyed me."

            Sonic's face tightened, but that was the extent of his reaction.

            Sally again. "Did you really, honestly, believe Robotnik would make peace? And when did it occur to you to sell us out?"

            "I never really thought about it. I botched my interview so badly, I'm ashamed. I'm not sure if he would have considered my offer seriously or not. I guess I'll never know. But what makes me mad is I've failed. All my… my friends, what's left of my family… we've got to keep fighting. I failed."

            "What about selling out Knothole?"

            "That was part of my instructions."

            Sonic shook his head. "That's a lie."

            "Tell us the truth."

            "The truth is simple! I care far more for my animals than I will ever care for Knothole and you damn ignorant villagers! You think you're fighting a war? You can hardly stand the sight of blood, let alone shed it! You don't know what war is! War is something you do in your spare time, not the reality of wondering if today is your turn to die—and actively wishing it is. No, you don't know spraint about war."

            There was only a short pause before Sally began her next question. "Did your mission have any other purpose?"

            "No. I didn't come to see if you were alive, damn you, I made that up. My only mission was to end the war."

            "Oh," Sally said, serious, "you would have had we let you."

            "So now I should thank you!" Sophia nearly screamed. "You can take your understanding and self-righteousness and shove it up your royal ass. Animals die every day, and they don't die because they deserve it. They die because they don't deserve it, because they've got the spine to live proud lives. They won't back down to Robotnik. You see, unlike you, in the Southern Continent we got to see that Robotnik would come for us before he did. When he arrived, we met him with firepower. And we've been dying ever since. We don't regret it, but there's only so much an animal can take! You expect us to fight to the death, but you aren't willing to do it yourself!"

            Sophia was becoming hysterical. "You don't have the backbone to fight an open battle, but we're forced to every day. You think you're noble! You think you're sacrificing for the sake of all! You haven't sacrificed worth a damn, not worth the life of one of us on the Southern Continent. You've done nothing!"

            "And that's why you're willing to sacrifice us? Because you're better animals than we are?"

            "Yes, damn you!" 

            "You've got "the spine to live proud lives", and yet you'd sell us out to save yourselves?"

            Sophia gaped at Sally, mouth open, before dissolving into a string of broken profanities that made everyone—save Sally—blanch. She sobbed and raged, banging her hand on the table. Stung, Sonic released her.

            Free, Sophia bolted from her chair and went for the door. Bunnie and Rotor moved to block her, but it was unnecessary. A golden flash streaked across the room. Sonic hurled his Power Ring and pegged Sophia in the back of the skull.

            She fell unconscious at Bunnie's feet.

            A disturbed silence fell upon the Freedom Fighters. Sally had sat motionless, but now she rose. "Bunnie, take her to the guest hut. You and Rotor and whomever you need, I want you to search her hut and her person. Remove everything except her clothes and secure her somehow. We need to think about this further."

            Bunnie glanced over her shoulder. There seemed to be a wordless conversation going on between Sonic and Sally. She turned away and hefted up Sophia's body. Rotor carried her feet.

            "Somehow," Bunnie said, "this doesn't feel right."

            "I know. We've never really had to restrain anyone before. It… it's really strange."

            Bunnie was desperate to keep the silence at bay. It seemed dangerous, now, to let there be silence. "What do y'all think 'bout this?"

            Rotor grimaced. "I don't know. I'm really mad that she tried to sell out Knothole, but I want to do something about those animals on the Southern Continent, too."

            Bunnie gave him a nod. "Yeah. I just don't understand. How can an animal get so upset that she loses track of right an' wrong?"

            "Do you think she thought it was wrong?"

            "Ah don't know. Do you think she thought it was right?"

            "I guess it's easier to pay a price in someone else's blood."

            "Sad, but true, Rotor my dahlin."


	5. The Envoy, Chapter Five

            "Sophia's slept for almost two days."

            "Well, she had in her backpack some pills that let her go longer without sleeping. Who knows when she last slept?"

            "True. So what do we do with her?"

            "I say we can never let her out of our sight."

            "Do you know how difficult it would be to maintain that?"

            "It's worth it. She knows where Knothole is. No matter what, we can never let her reveal that."

            "That may be true, but I think we can still make something out of this situation."

            "No way. We cannot let her go anywhere except away from Robuttnik."

            "Sonic, will you at least let me tell…"

            "Fine, fine, Sal, I know it'll be good, just tell me."

            "We know she's dedicated to those in the Southern Continent. Well, we make her do something to help them."

            "Like what?"

            "Like offer to help evacuate them."

            "Sal! What you're planning… uh-uh, I know what that means."

            "Yes. We've got to send her back."

            "And then we've got to sneak those guys back, a few at a time, over a long time."

            "Exactly."

            "Nice plan."

            "Thank you."

            "That was sarcasm, Sal. This ain't gonna work. There's no way. We can't evacuate that many. Where would they go? Here? We can't support 'em, we don't have the supplies and we'd give away our position to Robotnik. Anywhere else would take weeks, and they'd be without food. I mean, we've gotta believe Sophie had a lot to start with, and she was half-starved before she got to us."

            "All good arguments."

            "I have my moments."

            "Too bad it doesn't help us any. We can't keep her and we can't send her home. So what can we do with her?"

            "Beats me."

            "I will, gladly."

            "Watch it!"

            "Seriously, I can only think of one possibility."

            "Something we haven't said before?"

            "Yes."

            "Cool. What is it?"

            "Boro."

            The Freedom Fighters waited in silence the next morning, their normal conversations paralyzed by Sally's stony expression. Sonic, Antoine, Bunnie, and Rotor faced her as she spoke. It was in a more hurried tone than they'd expected. "We know how we want to deal with Sophia, but we need to keep her restrained for a few more days. Antoine, I want you to deal with that."

            "Oui, my preencez."

            "Rotor, I have a task for you."

            "Another? But, Sally, I need to…"

            "Put all your other projects on hold, Rotor. My task is for you to find an apprentice." Rotor drew back in surprise. "Yes, either here or in some other village. We need your expertise now more than ever, but there's only so much of you to go around. If you find someone to help you—and I mean really help you, as in they can do some things without you—you'll be able to catch up."

            "Okay," said Rotor, unsure.

            "Bunnie, I need you to go through Knothole. I want you to catalogue everyone's skills and abilities. What are they good at? What did they do before the coup? What are their strengths? We need to know that."

            "Why ever do we?"

            "Unless we can more efficiently involve everyone, we're never going to take down Robotnik. We need to get everyone involved. Sonic, I have a special job for you…"

            "Sally-girl!" Bunnie interrupted.

            "Yes?"

            "What's with the hurry?"

            Sally stopped speaking and faced each of them in turn. After the silence, she spoke again. "Okay, maybe I'm rushing a bit. But sometimes… other animals are dying out there. Sophia reminded me of that. They're buying us time, and we need to use it. Robotnik must be stopped; we all know that. But we have to stop him before he can kill others, too. It's our obligation.

            "So I want all of you to step up your efforts a little. We need to put more time and energy into those things that'll help us defeat Robotnik. Now, that doesn't mean I want Knothole to be anything other than a home for us. But I wouldn't be able to stand having a home because other animals died and there was something I could do about it."

            Again, she looked at each one. "I don't expect you to devote all of your time to it. I just want a little more. Even though we want to remove Robotnik, and don't want to think about him, I think the problem deserves some more attention. Does everyone understand?"

            Nods.

            "So, can I have a little cooperation to start things off with?"

            More nods.

            "Okay. Everyone, I need to talk to Sonic, so feel free to leave when you're ready."

            As they drifted out, Sally turned to face Sonic, but somehow couldn't raise her eyes to him. "Sonic, I… your job…"

            "It's Tails, isn't it?"

            She nodded. "I don't want anything to happen to him. But… he's got potential we might need… if push comes to shove, we might need everyone. In truth, he's among the most talented animals in Knothole. And… much as I hate to admit it… if… we might need him... I want him to be ready."

            "I gotcha, Sal."

            "So I want you to teach him everything you know, Sonic. Stealth, surviving, evasion, that sort of thing. If we really have to use him, I want him to have the bet possible chance of surviving. I'll spend time with him, too. With luck, he'll get the best parts of both of us."

            "Your brains and my good looks?"

            Sally shook her head. "I'm not in the mood, Sonic."

            But he only smiled at her, his smile growing. "Oh, come on, it was funny!"

            "Not it wasn't!" Sally said, trying desperately to be angry.

            "Ah-ah, I think I see a smile… yes, there it is… oh, this is gonna be good…"

            Sally pushed him out of his chair as a smile exploded on her face. "You are impossible, Sonic Hedgehog!"

            Because of the distance between Sumberland South and Knothole, only once a year did either side travel all the way to the other. However, they had more goods to exchange than could be transported in just one meeting. As a result, they would meet regularly to exchange goods and information at a halfway point. Most of these meetings were around the time of the annual trip, because that's when the food was in.

            It was only two weeks after the annual trade meeting when the Sumberlanders arrived at the rendezvous point. To their surprise, in addition to the expected animals were two more.

            "Boro!" cried the Sumberland leader. "Coming home already?"

            Boro responded even as the other villagers from both sides went about the transfer business. "Yes, actually, and I'm bringing a guest."

            "A guest?"

            His voice dropped. "Yes. She's not very willing, if you catch my meaning."

            "Ah, I see. So why are you coming home so soon? Did you learn anything?"

            "No, it didn't really work out."

            "Why not?"

            Boro gave a smile/grimace and caressed his bandaged hand. "I had too many weapons."

            "With any luck, Sophia is safe in Sumberland South by now." Sally spoke from atop the bridge. Sonic stood next to her. They both watched the stream flow, thinking over recent events.

            "Yeah. Hopefully, they'll be able to keep an eye on her."

            "Luckily, the village is a fair distance away from Robotnik. As long as they never take her on a raid, I think the situation is safe." She sighed. "Of course, it is one more worry, one more potential threat to Knothole. There are so many of those…"

            "Sal," said Sonic, caressing her forehead with two fingers, "you worry about much more and your face'll shrivel."

            "My face will be fine, so long as Knothole is."

            "You know what? You care too much."

            "And you don't care at all."

            "That's not true."

            "Oh yeah? For what?"

            "Is that a challenge?"

            "You bet it is, hedgehog. C'mon, surprise me."

            "I care about you."

            There was a long silence.

            "Really?"

            "Really, really."

            "Oh. Sonic, I am amazed."

            "You said to surprise you."

            "Well, you did." She frowned. "It seemed like… like you had a strange way of showing it."

            "Sal, Sophia was nothing. I just knew she'd be leavin' soon, so I wanted to get to know her before she left."

            "How'd you know she'd be leaving?"

            "Rotor told me somethin' I thought was pretty cool. I guess I knew it before he said it, but it helped me anyway."

            "Wha-at?" she said, voice irritated from his stalling.

            "He said, when Sal's got a feeling, she's usually right. I trust my instincts all the time. Why shouldn't I trust yours? If you really thought something was wrong with her, I knew you'd figure it out."

            "Sonic, I… you're flattering me," said Sally, blushing.

            "And how about you?"

            "What about me?"

            "Do you care about me?"

            Sally stuttered, blushed again, turned away. "Well, oh, I don't know…"

            "Uh-uh, you can't worm outta this now. I gave you an answer, I deserve one, too."

            "Oh, fine, I care about you."

            "You can do better than that!"

            Sally threw back her head with her paw in her face, like some ancient dancer. "Oh, Sonic, I am desperately in passionate love with you, and if I don't swoon with it now I think I'll die from the lack of your company!"

            "Cool! Does that mean I get out of guard duty?"

            "Sonic, I'm going to kill you!"

            Sophia balled herself in a corner. Although her room had everything she needed, and any number of things to keep her entertained, she wanted none of it. She wanted to be alone.

            Alone with her failure.

            Sure, she didn't give a damn about Knothole, but it would have been pointless—counterproductive, even—to sell them out if she couldn't secure peace for her family. And she'd failed that.

            Now she was a danger to everyone, something that had to be contained.

            She knew that was how animals thought of her. She had to do no more than look under the door to see the footpaws of her guard. Or listen as he chatted with other villagers. She only had to test the handles on the door and windows—all locked.

            She didn't care. She didn't want to go anywhere in any event.

            The villagers spoke little to her, and she said nothing to them. Accordingly, they'd soon stopped trying. Coupled with their natural hostility towards her, and soon no one wanted to talk much.

            That was how she wanted things.

            She felt she didn't deserve such luxuries as freedom or relationships. She'd failed her mission in the worst possible way. At this point, she could add nothing to help anybody.

            But, she thought as she reached for her plate, if there's one thing I can do, it's this. Slowly, methodically, she threw away most of the food, leaving only a small amount.

            She knew from her trip to Knothole that she needed little to survive. Besides, this was how much food her family would be getting, soon enough. Once the last bays grew overloaded.

            I'll be with my family somehow, she thought. I'll be with them in hunger.

            Snively glanced over his shoulder. Robotnik had missed a great opportunity, and had made his regret quite clear to Snively, but aside from that, the bucket of lard wasn't showing any difference.

            It worried Snively. Is there something there that I don't realize?

            His station beeped, reminding him of what he was doing. "Sir, the newest production of Swatbots is complete."

            "Excellent. Snively, I want them delivered by special transport to the Southern Continent. The next two runs, as well."

            "The Southern Continent, sir?"

            "Do you need a recorder, Snively? Yes, I said the Southern Continent. I intend to shift the balance of power there once and for all. Snively, do you have our estimations for when we can overwhelm the resistors there?"

            Snively's trained fingers pulled the data quickly. "Here, sir."

            "Recompute with the addition of these reinforcements."

            "Done, sir."

            "Now, delete six months from the timetable."

            Snively blanched. "Sir, six whole months! Why?"

            "Snively, would you send an envoy to negotiate surrender if you thought you could hold out for a while? She never actually said it, Snively, but I could feel it in her. They're breaking. If we increase the pressure more, they'll snap like so much deadwood. What is the projection?"

            Snively looked over it. "Subtracting those six months… we can expect to have complete control of the Continent in half a year, perhaps even five months."

            "Good, Snively, very good. That will do nicely."

Bryon Nightshade

Disclaimer (had to be here somewhere…)

This story includes characters and situations that belong, not to the author, but to one or more of the following: SEGA, Dic, and Archie Comics. They are used without permission. This story is copyrighted by Sam Durbin, a.k.a. Bryon Nightshade. It's abuse, misuse, copying, or selling is prohibited. If you want this for your site, e-mail me about it. Otherwise, paws off.


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